The present invention relates to the field of digital image processing in general and to image segmentation in particular.
Image segmentation is the process of partitioning a digital image into multiple segments (i.e., sets of pixels). Image segmentation is typically used to locate objects and boundaries (lines, curves, etc.) in images.
There are a variety of potential devices for capturing digital images of documents, including digital cameras, scanners, and cellular phones with built-in digital cameras, for purposes such as storing and/or processing of the document image. Digital images of documents may also be obtained by digitizing an image of a document captured with a conventional film camera. A variety of systems also exist for processing images of documents captured by such devices. For example, it is known to separate the document image in a captured image (i.e., the foreground of the image) from the remainder or surrounding image (i.e., the background of the image) using segmentation.
The foregoing examples of the related art and limitations related therewith are intended to be illustrative and not exclusive. Other limitations of the related art will become apparent to those of skill in the art upon a reading of the specification and a study of the FIGURES.